Every trader has some definite plan in his mind. And I believe that every trader must be watchful regard ting his choice of strategies here. I love to work on scalping which requires smaller transactions and after entry a trader requires timely yet quickly exit from the market.
Thanks for feedback. Yea I need to really get my routine down. I think that’s what’s been really hurting my trade outcomes. But I think with every bit of information, I’m taking a step in the right direction.
Do you use price action for signals?
Oh man, I’m just asking the questions. It’s the contributors making it happen, right!
Do you mean Trump? Serious question.
Yes, i look for particular price action patterns near major s/r levels while taking the major trend and current market conditions into consideration.
If price action, current s/r levels, major trend, and current market conditions all line up, then i’ll set entry orders in anticipation of 2 things
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Price holding then bouncing off a major s/r level, in which case i set an entry order in anticipation of a retest at or near that level after the initial bounce.
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Price breaking thru the major s/r level. In that case i’ll have an entry order set beyond the current s/r in hopes of catching any breakout as early as possible.
I perfer scenario 1 because trade management is easier when trading a bounce/retest when compared to trading a potential breakout in my opinion. Setting a SL on a s/r bounce is much easier because the levels are more defined since the s/r level in use holds up as opposed to being broken like in a breakout.
No, I’m talking about GBP pairs, so the political calendar I am referring to is the UK calendar. While Trump did visit at one point, I didn’t let that keep me out of the market. It’s more about WA votes, flying to Brussels, etc, that triggers Sterling spikes right now. Anything that changes the short-term perspective on the Brexit outcome.
Thanks for sharing the details!
Is the bounce a certain set of pips, or closed candles before you enter? How do you figure out the bounces direction will hold the way you’re hoping? Or do you just set SL or TS and let the trade move?
Yea, that makes a lot of sense.
Okay cool. Wasn’t sure I was understanding right. Thanks for clearing that up.
any kind of trading strategy can be profitable if there is strong money management. so we have to emphasis on money management first.
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These exit conditions seem odd to me, I would have thought that exiting at the third consecutive higher close would cut your pyramiding short alot of the time? Do you run these 3 conditions simultaneously? Also do you mean 3EMA or 30EMA?
You’re right about the pyramiding - this tactic is suspended for me for now. Maybe the charts will become “trendy” enough" for me to bring this back onto the table at some point - maybe after Brexit and the US/China trade wars have been resolved?
For now I’m conservatively focused - cutting losers early before they reach the SL and making sure at least some winners are individually as big as possible. Yes, the three exit conditions are concurrent and the exit EMA is the three-day one: I take the first exit signal of the three that prints. But I am often setting a new entry order back into the same trend within hours of the exit - definitely in the first two scenarios: an entry opportunity at a lower high usually follows the third one, its not common to get more than 5 consecutive higher daily highs in forex.
Aren’t these two different things though? Your strategy isn’t that much better just because of your money management. Or am I misunderstanding something? I think they more work hand in hand.
You are not wrong - money management and a trading strategy do work hand in hand - but trading strategies are ultimately made or broken by money management (and psychology). I suspect that every unprofitable trader (the oft quoted 99%) with more than a few months of experience has tried at least one strategy that could have made them profitable with better money management.
I think I was stuck more on the any strategy part. If all you need is sound money management, regardless of strategy, that 99% would be so much lower. Granted that I’ve only had really traded a single strategy, even with the perfect money management, there’s no guarantee I’ll be profitable.
But I get what you’re saying.
That is a totally valid point. A lot of the terms being thrown around mean slightly different things to different people. Is profit taking money management or trading strategy? Is a 5/8 EMA crossover strategy essentially the ‘same’ strategy as an 8/13 SMA crossover strategy, or should they be viewed as different strategies altogether? Different traders will have different answers.
Clearly, it is possible to sit down and create a strategy so bad, so unrealistic, that no amount of money management can save it. However, the internet is full of strategies (using that word in a very broad sense - crossover strategies, RSI strategies, etc) that are capable of being profitable with the right money management and psychology.
New traders (and we’ve all been there) cannot see this, because the chances of a new trader having both good money management and the right psychology for whatever system they happen to pick up are essentially zero. However, just like a fish can’t see water, new traders cannot see the psychology and money management decisions that they are making that destroy an otherwise profitable system. So they hop from system to system, or look for that ‘holy grail’ combination of indicators, never actually working on the real problem.
It typically takes a great deal of pain before we finally accept that the problem is actually ourselves, and begin the task of fixing our mistakes. Most traders never make that leap.
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After Tuesday’s fiasco I have had to resurrect an old rule which I had over-confidently thought I didn’t need any more -
- exit all positions when unrealised gains total 10% of account capital
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I am totally with you on this statement, and well everything else you mentioned above it. 
I do think noobs put way more time and energy into finding that perfect system, and everything else falls to side. But I’m thinking that’s just the growing pains. The question for me is if that’s a necessary part of the learning experience to become successful?
I think this is highly overlooked. Actually setting a profit goal rather than letting it run forever without a mechanism to lock in profits. That could work if you’re watching 24/7, but who can do that?
Thanks!
Thought I just read that somewhere too reading about Epstein. Looks like the universe is telling me something? 
Strange how the world sometimes seems to shift and resolve in ways that return us to the same idea or person or event. I don’t understand how that happens but its impressive when it does.
Sometimes I think it’s just my human brain trying to make patterns out of what I see and read. Other times I think, wow this is fascinating. The latter is a more optimistic view of my/our existence, the former, a more logical, straightforward way of processing it. Which do you mostly end up with?
I am an optimist when it comes to individual people - they’re mostly honest, hospitable and helpful where they can be. But I’m a pessimist about groupings of people - especially political parties, organised religions, ideological movements etc.
I think our attitudes are reflected back by the individuals we encounter. So my life is generally punctuated by pleasant encounters, friendly humour, good service, acts of kindness etc. Although I see the human world as dark and threatened, I still like the people in it.
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Indeed. While it’s amazing what humans can do if they work together, I see how these groups can be damaging too.
+1!